Google is the Phantom Menace

Uhhhhh... the article EH2 was referring to as "proof" has nothing to do with Google. It's about supposed eco-"terrorists" and is the "hatchet job" that Carrotee was referring to. Your response is a bit non-sequitur here, at least as it relates to Big Brother-style paranoia.

Well, I was trying to steer the thread a little bit back towards the premise of the OP and away from eco terrorism

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Which is unfortunate, because two shots from an adblocker fired strategically into a hole in this battlestation will bring it down completely.

No adblocker can hit a target that small, that's impossible, even for a computer.

Upon signing up for a Gmail account, Google now prompts you for your credit card information; it asks if you'd like to sign up for a Google Wallet account. As your signing up for a Gmail account, just to be perfectly clear.

My take: Any "menace" i see from google has been a "phantom" constructed by fanboys of competing companies.

MY view is they're a big ole privacy-crushing factory who's job is to suck you in to their stuff to push advertisements at you, however as long as you're aware that's what they're doing go ahead and use their stuff.

FaceBook however makes my blood run cold. All Google really have is your email address, web searches you do on it, products you buy through it, mails you get through it etc. etc. FaceBook has people delibrately putting their kids pictures online.

There's no evidence that Facebook is maliciously using it. They're using it currently for better ads and the analysis the data allows. It's meant (these days) to be relatively public and I'm fine with that as long as Facebook doesn't go and start releasing that info to others.

Isn't the point of an AppleID to buy things? You need it for apps, music movies, etc.

Why would I be asked to enter billing info for a free email account? To buy what?

I don't know how it relates to gMail, but you need a google wallet account to buy things from the android market

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There's no evidence that Facebook is maliciously using it. They're using it currently for better ads and the analysis the data allows. It's meant (these days) to be relatively public and I'm fine with that as long as Facebook doesn't go and start releasing that info to others.

Umm, how do you think they make their $$? They sell ALL their demographic data. Every single last shred of it.

Oh, that too. There's a facial recognition search engine called Colossus that gets its photo database from Facebook.

That's not the only one, there are others. There are several that watch video and translate the voice to text and analyze not only the actions of the users, but objects in the rest of the shot. If a young girl posts a clip on Youtube, this software can recognize the posters she has on the wall in the background, any brand identity on any clothing she is wearing (beside the normal stuff like color and patterns), and even the octave of her voice to fit all that data into an appropriate marketing demographic.

At the beginning a lot of the tools were pretty rudimentary, but as of lat I've seen some really impressive results.

Oh, that too. There's a facial recognition search engine called Colossus that gets its photo database from Facebook.

That's not the only one, there are others. There are several that watch video and translate the voice to text and analyze not only the actions of the users, but objects in the rest of the shot. If a young girl posts a clip on Youtube, this software can recognize the posters she has on the wall in the background, any brand identity on any clothing she is wearing (beside the normal stuff like color and patterns), and even the octave of her voice to fit all that data into an appropriate marketing demographic.

At the beginning a lot of the tools were pretty rudimentary, but as of lat I've seen some really impressive results.

My take: Any "menace" i see from google has been a "phantom" constructed by fanboys of competing companies.

MY view is they're a big ole privacy-crushing factory who's job is to suck you in to their stuff to push advertisements at you, however as long as you're aware that's what they're doing go ahead and use their stuff.

I completely understand and respect your opinion.

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FaceBook however makes my blood run cold. All Google really have is your email address, web searches you do on it, products you buy through it, mails you get through it etc. etc. FaceBook has people delibrately putting their kids pictures online.

Agreed. I was reading yesterday about how a guy's FB profile pic was used to sell a 10-gallon tub of lube - yes, for sexual purposes. His friends and family kept seeing it over and over and over.

It's the disingenuity of it that really freaks me out. It sets itself up as a friendly way of connecting friends and family - "Look at my three year old riding a trike for the first time" - which on the surface is lovely yet underneath that they're pulling apart that information - all of it, including images - and selling it to whoever'll buy it. For the rest of that kid's life there'll be that bit of data open to whatever analysis is run on it, sold to whoever wants to buy it.

If phone companies routinely wiretapped private conversations with voice recognition software, crunched it all down and flogged it people would go mental, which is why there's at least ostensibly laws preventing it.

But for FB which is doing things ten times as bad? Nobody seems to mind.

Google is Jar Jar Binks. At least using their software has always left me with that impression.

Privacy is fairly easy. Use cash a lot. Don't use plastic cards a lot. Birth your children at home (or at least outside a hospital). When places ask for your information (schools, government agencies, etc.), give as little as possible (you'd be surprised at how little you actually have to give). Don't list your phone number. Don't activate cookies in your browser unless you are at sites like this, and then flush them when you're done. Turn off Flash. Instead of Facebook, set up your own server with password access and set up a blog with pictures of you and your family somewhere that only friends and family can get to and where it can't be sold off.

When signing up for or purchasing something online, give fake information wherever possible. I always create a new account at online stores, for example, and give them a fake e-mail address and phone number. When I want to track my package, I use the confirmation number, and I can contact THEM if I need to.

The important point is--don't give out your information. Or you can give out fake information and see where it comes back to you from totally unexpected sources. It can be an interesting experiment.

Privacy is fairly easy. Use cash a lot. Don't use plastic cards a lot. Birth your children at home (or at least outside a hospital). When places ask for your information (schools, government agencies, etc.), give as little as possible (you'd be surprised at how little you actually have to give). Don't list your phone number. Don't activate cookies in your browser unless you are at sites like this, and then flush them when you're done. Turn off Flash. Instead of Facebook, set up your own server with password access and set up a blog with pictures of you and your family somewhere that only friends and family can get to and where it can't be sold off.

You consider that "fairly easy"? It sounds like a monumental pain in the ass on an almost daily basis. And what do I get for all that effort? Nothing.

Privacy is fairly easy. Use cash a lot. Don't use plastic cards a lot. Birth your children at home (or at least outside a hospital). When places ask for your information (schools, government agencies, etc.), give as little as possible (you'd be surprised at how little you actually have to give). Don't list your phone number. Don't activate cookies in your browser unless you are at sites like this, and then flush them when you're done. Turn off Flash. Instead of Facebook, set up your own server with password access and set up a blog with pictures of you and your family somewhere that only friends and family can get to and where it can't be sold off.

You consider that "fairly easy"? It sounds like a monumental pain in the ass on an almost daily basis. And what do I get for all that effort? Nothing.

I don't see what's so difficult about it . . .

--Not listing phone number: Do it once, never think about it again.--Turn off flash. Ummm. I don't know how this makes my life a pain. Heck, my iDevices can't even use it!--Turn off cookies. I mostly never notice. But I'll admit my web surfing has become somewhat habitual as I've grown older.--Birth children at home: Wow, this is the best decision we ever made. Water birthing (usually can't do that in a hospital!) makes things much easier, no doctors pressuring you, comfortable home environment. Oh, and it costs like one-quarter the amount of a hospital birth. No hospital stay. No stalled labor from useless drugs. No intense pressure for caesarian. Yeah, real pain in the ass there!--Give fake information: You're giving information anyways, why not fake? It's not any more effort. How is that a pain? Or how is giving less information a pain? I'm not sure I get this.--Set up your own server: Okay, this might be a pain (actually, I've found it incredibly valuable from a number of standpoints). But seriously, upkeep is minimal, and otherwise it's very similar to posting to Facebook from a time perspective, except that it's private. I can understand--you're probably not technically inclined . . .

Regarding family posting to Facebook--no. They post to our private web area instead. Most of my extended family and friends actually don't have Facebook accounts, or for the minority that do, they almost never post to them (set up accounts a couple years ago, and quickly lost interest).

YMMV, of course, and to each his/her own! But for those who are interested in privacy, it's not that hard to reclaim a lot of it for yourself.

The home birth is a bit out of the ambit! And not always possible, but very rewarding when you can.

I'm too lazy to do home server, but I wouldn't open a FaceBook account using my real name (or post images). Or Gmail either.

No--I knew what you were doing. I showed how when told that, that I could actually go and read the thread. SOmething you have failed to do. I even told you which posts to look for. It is right htere. I even repeated myself several times.

I read the thread--saw you had used it, and showed. it. The key is that I read the thread.

You didn't realise I was sending up your 'read the thread' bullshit by claiming the opposite of what was clearly there — It was pretty obvious.

The interesting thing is, you obviously can link when you think you see evidence that supports your argument (even if in this case you fell for a simple trick). You don't link when your own words don't say what you wish they said. Rank hypocrisy. Take care mate.

I read the thread--saw you had used it, and showed. it. The key is that I read the thread.

You didn't realise I was sending up your 'read the thread' bullshit by claiming the opposite of what was clearly there — It was pretty obvious.

The interesting thing is, you obviously can link when you think you see evidence that supports your argument (even if in this case you fell for a simple trick). You don't link when your own words don't say what you wish they said. Rank hypocrisy. Take care mate.

That's right--and I found my post that you were looking for too. Right where I told you to find it. Proving that you didn't look. Thus making you a liar.